Disaster Chef
by matttob618
Summary: Two days after the Fan Fact incident, something else happens involving Alya.
1. Chapter 1 - A Change In Perspective

It was two days after the Fan Fact incident. In that time, Marinette was able to stop him in the waking world and catch the Akuma, then made amends with Honoré. Now, she sat in her room having a video chat with Alya.

"So what was the dream about?" she asked.

"In it, I was Ladybug, and Adrien was Cat Noir, and we were in a story written by a guy I met a few days ago."

"Ooh, it must've been a pretty good dream!" Alya winked.

Marinette sighed. "Actually, it was pretty stressful. We had to find all the inconsistencies with reality, then figure out how to escape."

"Oh… Well, I'm glad you told me. I could write it as a fanfiction for the LadyBlog! Without your names, of course. What was the guy's villain name?"

"Fan Fact."

"Perfect! ' _Fan Fact, a Ladybug and Cat Noir Fanfiction, written by Alya and Marinette Dupain-Cheng_ '! _Merci beaucoup_!"

"Wait, did you just speak French while speaking French?"

"I'm not sure… anywho, see you on the flipside!"

Alya hung up the call. Marinette flopped onto her back and chuckled.

Tikki came out of Marinette's purse. "Are you sure that was a good idea?"

"Her blog has been declining lately. And besides, you heard her; she doesn't suspect a thing!"

 _The Next Day…_

Alya shut her locker and was about to head to lunch, when she was stopped by Chloe.

"What is the meaning of this?" Chloe held out her phone, which was displaying the story on the LadyBlog.

"Oh, that's the story Marinette and I wrote."

"I mean, why does this story portray me as a fun-hating brat?"

"I was only writing the truth!" Alya shot back.

Chloe's face turned red. In one fluid move, she pushed Alya into her open locker and shut it, locking it.

"Chloe! Let me out!"

"Oh, I'll let you out — at the end of lunch. Don't call for help, or my daddy will get your website shut down." With that, Chloe left.

Alya grumbled, then took out her lunch in the cramped space. "Might as well have my lunch while I wait." She took a bite, but nearly inhaled it when she was startled by a scream. Several students left the locker room to see the commotion.

A loud, booming voice exclaimed from a distance, "I am Claw-Chella, and I'll show you all some REAL music!" This was quickly followed by what could only be described as the sound of a hundred electric guitars being slammed against a wall, at about the same volume as a vacuum cleaner warehouse.

Alya groaned, "Oh great, I'm gonna miss a battle!"

She was then interrupted by a glimpse of motion through the slits in the locker. Alya wanted to speak up, but remembered what Chloe would do if she got out early.

The person walked across the room and started talking to somebody else. Alya could see that Marinette was one of them, but she couldn't see the other character, and she couldn't make out their conversation over the "music".

Suddenly, Marinette's voice broke through the sound:

"Tikki, spots on!"

Alya gasped, recognizing the sentence structure. In a brilliant flash of light, Marinette had become Ladybug.

Alya could barely keep from screaming.

Ladybug leapt out the window, allowing Alya to let out her excitement.

"Ohmygosh, Marinette is Ladybug! I knew it! Wait'll I tell Nino!" She tried to open the locker door. "Right, it's still locked."

—

When at last Claw-Chella was defeated, school resumed as normal. Chloe came back to her locker and opened it, setting Alya free.

"Well, have you learned your lesson?" Chloe asked in her snobbish way.

"Yeah, yeah, I should keep in mind who I'm talking to before I say something. Got it."

"And?"

"And I'll edit the story to make you nicer."

Chloe nodded and stepped out of the way. Alya shot up and bolted out of the room, one destination in mind.

—

"Woah, woah, are you telling me," Nino couldn't believe what Alya had pulled him aside to tell him, "that the brave, heroic, and witty Ladybug is actually the shy, clumsy, and awkward Marinette?"

"I would've had my doubts, but I saw her transform with my own eyes!" Alya was still geeking out over the whole ordeal.

Nino thought over it. "Should we tell anyone?"

"Well, I thought, since she's keeping our identities a secret, then the least we could do is keep hers."

"Okay, that makes sense… but then why did you tell me?"

"Because, you're my favorite guy," Alya held his hand, "And I promised not to keep secrets from you."

Nino chuckled. "Fair enough. But should we tell _her_ that we know?"

"Yeah," Alya said, thinking, "and I think I know exactly how to do it."


	2. Chapter 2 - A Ladybug and Her Fans

"Happy Birthday, Marinette!"

Marinette blew out the candles on the cake, and everyone cheered.

"I feel kinda silly doing this every year," she admitted, "It's fun, but still."

Her dad, Tom, chuckled. "Nonsense! Even my mother still does it!"

"Well, if she does it…"

Her mom, Sabina, cut the cake and gave everyone a piece (Marinette made sure the biggest one went to Adrien). When they finished, they moved on to gifts.

"This one's from Max," Marinette read the tag on the gift bag, then rifled through the stuffing paper, retrieving a new cell phone. "A new cell phone!? You shouldn't have!"

Max blushed. "You're quite welcome!"

The next gift was from Chloe, and it was rather small. Marinette tore through the wrapping paper to find a box that contained two rather beautiful earrings. "Woah! Chloe, did you actually get me these yourself?"

"I thought you could use more earrings than just those hideous black ones."

Marinette numbly said, "Of course."

The third gift was an envelope from Adrien. Marinette excitedly opened it, discovering an invitation to a fancy dinner on Thursday. "Oh, Adrien!"

Adrien smiled. "It took me a while to convince my Dad, so don't be late." He winked, and Marinette giggled.

Then there was a black gift that didn't have a name, just a tag that said 'You're one cool cat, Marinette.'

"Who's this from?" Marinette asked.

Most of the guests conversed among themselves, coming out with "It was here before we got here."

Marinette cautiously opened the wrapping paper, then opened the box and gasped. Inside was a black leather jacket with Marinette's initials stitched on the breast.

"Woah! It looks great!" She looked back at the tag, and realized from whom it must've come. She glanced at Adrien, then thanked Cat Noir in her head.

The final gift we're concerned with was a joint gift from Alya and Nino. She opened it and found...

A decorative hand mirror, with a red and black pattern on the back. And printed on the mirror itself was a mask that resembled Ladybug's.

"So you can feel as powerful as Ladybug whenever you need to!" Alya explained, then she and Nino winked.

"Why thank y—" Marinette began, then realized that they winked to her. "Er, would you excuse me for a minute? I need to talk to Alya and Nino."

"Certainly," Sabina said.

Marinette brought Alya and Nino into her room, making sure the others were well out of earshot.

Alya burst out, "We know that you're Ladybug!"

"What?!" Marinette was shocked.

"Chloe locked me in her locker right before Claw-Chella attacked, and I saw you transform!"

"Don't worry; only we know." Nino added.

Marinette started pacing about. "No, no, this isn't good! I was supposed to keep my identity a secret, but now two of my friends know!"

"Marinette, calm down!" came a voice from inside Marinette's purse. Alya and Nino looked as Tikki came out. "It's already happened, and there's nothing we can do about that?"

"Is that your kwami?" Alya asked, swamped by a cuteness overload. "Hi, I'm Alya, and this is Nino!"

"I'm Tikki. It's nice to officially meet you!"

From down the hall, Sabina called, "Marinette! It's time for the party games!"

"We'll sort this out later," Marinette said. Tikki hid, and they went back downstairs.

"...and that's basically how I came to be with Marinette," Tikki finished telling them their backstory (leaving out Master Fu, of course).

"Woah!" Alya gasped, having listened intently to the whole thing.

Nino, meanwhile, could still barely comprehend what was going on.

"Now, what about you two? I want to know more about you!"

"Well, okay… My name is Alya Césaire, I'm in 6 of 7 classes with Marinette, and have been her friend since grade school. I have three sisters, and I'm the girl who runs the LadyBlog, along with Nino."

Tikki looked at both of them. "Are you two…?"

Nino took Alya's hand in his. "Does that answer your question?"

"Well, not really."

Nino was taken aback. "Yes, we're dating," he sighed.

"Oh! Well, congrats!"

Marinette laughed. "Y'know, of all the people who could've learned my identity, I'm glad it was you two."

"I'm glad it was us, too," Nino replied. "We rarely ever hang out as it is. And besides, I can't imagine what would happen if somebody else were to find out."

"Yeah, like Chloe. What do you think would happen if _she_ found out?" Alya conjectured.

"Disaster," Marinette answered, "that's what would happen. She'd probably blackmail me with it for the rest of our lives. Speaking of which…"

Marinette sat up, becoming more serious. "You two must promise me that, no matter what happens, you won't tell anyone that you know."

Alya and Nino did so.

"Good."

At that moment, Marinette heard her mom call from downstairs. "Sorry, guys, but I gotta bounce. We're going to the park for our picnic."

Tikki hid in Marinette's purse, and they went to the front door and parted ways.


	3. Chapter 3 - Culinary Disaster-piece

Marinette and her parents sat in the park on a picnic blanket, munching on their dinners and admiring the sunset. Sabine reached for her drink, but yelped when a stray Frisbee knocked it over. She stood up and located the throwers, a rich-looking couple who seemed annoyed — specifically the wife.

"What're you doing here?" she asked.

"We picnic here every year for our daughter's birthday," Sabine explained, then added, "Why do you sound like you're mad at us?"

"Because you're sitting right in the middle of the fairway!"

"What?"

The woman picked the Frisbee up. "Today's the finals for the Country Club Frisbee Golf Championship!"

"Why are you holding it in the park?"

"Because the actual Folf Course is still under renovations! Not that you would know that."

Sabine was offended. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means?"

"Just who do you think you are?"

"I'm Carmelita Bourgeois, the mayor's sister!"

"Well, regardless of who you are, that's no way to treat someone!"

"Whatever. Just move your little picnic somewhere else, and I might forget. But if you refuse, I'll just get Andre to make you."

Sabine, still mad, walked back to her family.

"Mom?" Marinette asked, concerned.

Sabine didn't answer; instead, she had them both pick up the picnic. As they left, Sabine turned back and made a not-so-nice gesture, then continued along.

"Well, I _never_!" Carmelita scoffed.

"Well, dear, you could've been a _bit_ nicer…" her husband suggested.

She scoffed again.

When they got back home, Sabine was still in a sour mood.

"Honey," Tom tried to comfort her, "You know that the Bourgeois family is full of rich snobs, and there's nothing we can do about that."

"I know," Sabine said, "but it makes me so mad that those kinds of people exist!"

Tom nodded.

And then he spotted a black butterfly.

Meanwhile, Marinette got into her room, and Tikki came out of her purse. "Did you see the way mom acted around Carmelita? I've never seen her so mad!"

"Yeah," Tikki remarked.

Then she realized: "Wait, do you think…?"

Marinette gasped. "Mom!"

She dashed down the stairs, but by the time she got down, it was too late:

Sabine was already transforming.


End file.
